What is Close Reading Close Readingis a careful, sustained read of a text multiple times. Students get truly involved with the text on which they are focused. There are many technology tools that can be used to engage students when close reading while helping teachers to be more efficient. (This class is not designed to teach how to close read.)
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locate and identify appropriate texts to incorporate into my class.
identify and use websites, programs, and/or apps to engage the students in the close reading process.
Finding sources and pieces of text, outside of the textbook, can take hours of research. Use the link below to find a short list of resources that are available. (This is not a comprehensive list.) (Download an article for later in the class.)
Downloadable Browser Tools
CleanPrint is an economically and ecologically friendly print tool that saves you paper, ink, and money while making your output look great. CleanPrint is activated by clicking the CleanPrint Browser Tool instead of the print button next to an article on a website. Before printing or saving content you can add a note, eliminate images, increase or decrease font size, and eliminate text to save ink and paper.
CutePDF Writer enables most printable Windows applications to convert to professional quality PDF documents.
Using Apple's "Save As PDF"
Both Safari and Firefox have allow for printing of PDFs. If you simply print a PDF of a website, all of the sidebar information, ads, and other distractors will print, as well. One way to minimize that is to do the following:
Open Safari or Firefox to an article you wish to save as a PDF.
Highlight the text and images you wish to show on your saved document. (exclude unwanted material)
Click "File" in the top menu bar and select "Print."
In the print window, click "PDF" and select "Save as a PDF" and Save.
Find, save, and share the PDF with your students. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, i.e., school server and teacher website.
Students and teachers will open the PDF and use the Annotations and Drawing Markup tools available under the Comment tab. (Annotation and Drawing Tools may vary with the version of Adobe on the device.)
After completing the close read process, PDFs can be shared with the teacher.
Find, save, and share the PDF with your students. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, i.e., school server and teacher website.
Open the PDF in PREVIEW. Many computers will do this by default when you double click on the PDF. If not, consider placing the Preview application on your dock for easy drag and drop opening of documents.
Click on "Tools" in the Preview menu bar then choose Annotate and the desired tool.
After completing the close read process, PDFs can be shared with the teacher.
Starting the 2016-2017 school year, our district will be adding greater access to technology by bringing in laptops running
Windows 10. Those devices come with Microsoft's newest web browser, Edge . Unlike other strategies for using tech to close read, this one does NOT require a PDF or other document.
Students and teachers with devices running Windows can get the article or webpage themselves.
Open the Edge web browser app.
Go to the website that you wish to use. There are likely to be ads and other distracting links on that site. We'll use one tool to clean it up and another to annotate the text.
Clean up the page by clicking the Reading View button in the toolbar.
Next, click the Make a Web Note button in the toolbar to see the pen, highlighter, and note tools to annotate the webpage.
Use the Pen, Highlighter, or Note tool to annotate.
Save to OneNote, a Reading List in Edge, or the Favorites.
Share via Email, OneNote or other social media apps.
Quickly insert text using the INSERT tools in OneNote and distribute to students without a trip to the copy machine. Now all of your students can close read the text with the ability to highlight, take notes, record audio, and even more all the while you, the teacher, can keep an eye on progress using Class Notebook REVIEW STUDENT WORK tools.
Close Reading on an iPad
PaperPort Notes:
App for the iPad
Oak Ridge, the secret city
PaperPort Notes is an example digital note taking tool for the iPad that is transforming the way people create and share information. Now you can combine documents, web content, audio, typed text as well as hand written notes into a single document that you can easily organize and share with anyone.
Educreations:
Educreations is an app for the iPad. As a tool, it has the ability to take photos or use screenshots/photos saved to the Photos app. To take a screenshot of text on the internet, press both the Home button and the Lock button at the same time. Use the pen tool to circle or underline the text. Use the text box tool to add annotations.
Google Docs
Google Docs, the document editor in Google Drive, allows for editing and sharing of files other than simple PDFs. Google Docs works on nearly any device that can access the internet. Upload or make the text document. Highlight the text. Insert Comments. Share your document with others to work collaboratively.
Actively Learn http://www.activelylearn.com
Short on Paper? No problem, use a tool like this to share texts with students on any device digitally.
Teachers can:
discuss the text with each student through messaging
assign questions that students must considered at different points during the reading of text
update the text with essential information for students and it is updated in real time
track student progress within a text
Videos can be viewed by using the CMCSS-Wifi or Staff-WiFi
Let's Practice Actively Learn
Participants will need to sign in as students:
Use the Actively Learn generic students accounts.
Below is the message the teacher would use to send to students or for sharing the code to the class.
Creating Assignments
Upload a text you would like students to closely read (your own pdf, text from a catalog on this site, or text from an outside website)
Assign the text classes
Create Questions to accompany text
Share the text with classes or students
Creating An Assignment Using The Catalog
The Catalog is full of pre-made texts teachers can use to assign to students. The texts can be sorted by grade level and category. Teachers can also request a text to be placed in the catalog using the request text feature.
The catalog also allows teachers to use pre made layers on texts. This means the text is already layered with questions or notes. If teachers would rather create their own questions or notes they may choose the text without layers, and they will simply be provided with a text to engage students.
If teachers select a piece of text from the Catalog there are a few additional adjustments that can be made such as the font size, background or theme color, and paragraph numbering.
Managing Your Classes
Teachers can add classes here
Quick snapshot of student use
Change student settings such as password
Videos and be viewed by using the CMCSS-Wifi or Staff-WiFi
Student Progress Teachers can monitor student progress by clicking on the text selection and utilizing the graph in the top right corner of the teacher page. This will have information on each student's progress within that particular text. Students also have this graph to keep up with personal progress in the student view.
(Allow time to search the catalog, find or import an article and begin adding questions. Divide into groups {ex. K-2; 3-5, 6-8; 9-12 or subject} to discuss how they would use Actively Learn in their classroom. Then share those ideas with the whole group.)
Close Readingis a careful, sustained read of a text multiple times. Students get truly involved with the text on which they are focused. There are many technology tools that can be used to engage students when close reading while helping teachers to be more efficient. (This class is not designed to teach how to close read.)
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I can
ISTE Standards for Teachers
ISTE Standards for Students
Resources for Texts
Finding sources and pieces of text, outside of the textbook, can take hours of research. Use the link below to find a short list of resources that are available. (This is not a comprehensive list.) (Download an article for later in the class.)Informational Text_Literature Sources
(After spending time looking through the texts, share with the class one source you like {not an article}.)
Collaborative Padlet
Educational Leadership Article - Closing in on Close Reading
A Close Look at Close Reading
Creating PDFs
Downloadable Browser ToolsCleanPrint is an economically and ecologically friendly print tool that saves you paper, ink, and money while making your output look great. CleanPrint is activated by clicking the CleanPrint Browser Tool instead of the print button next to an article on a website. Before printing or saving content you can add a note, eliminate images, increase or decrease font size, and eliminate text to save ink and paper.
Using Apple's "Save As PDF"
Both Safari and Firefox have allow for printing of PDFs. If you simply print a PDF of a website, all of the sidebar information, ads, and other distractors will print, as well. One way to minimize that is to do the following:
| Resources for Texts | Creating PDFs | Using PDFs on Laptops | Close Reading on Windows 10 | Class Notebook with OneNote | Close Reading on an iPad | Close Read with Any Device | Let's Practice Actively Learn
Using PDFs on Laptops
Adobe Reader(Model with Mac and PC)
Apple's Preview
(Mac)
| Resources for Texts | Creating PDFs | Using PDFs on Laptops | Close Reading on Windows 10 | Class Notebook with OneNote | Close Reading on an iPad | Close Read with Any Device | Let's Practice Actively Learn
Close Reading on Windows 10
Starting the 2016-2017 school year, our district will be adding greater access to technology by bringing in laptops runningWindows 10. Those devices come with Microsoft's newest web browser, Edge
Students and teachers with devices running Windows can get the article or webpage themselves.
- Open the Edge web browser app.
- Go to the website that you wish to use. There are likely to be ads and other distracting links on that site. We'll use one tool to clean it up and another to annotate the text.
- Clean up the page by clicking the Reading View button in the toolbar.
- Next, click the Make a Web Note button
in the toolbar to see the pen, highlighter, and note tools to annotate the webpage. 
Use the Pen, Highlighter, or Note tool to annotate.
- Save
to OneNote, a Reading List in Edge, or the Favorites. - Share
via Email, OneNote or other social media apps.
.| Resources for Texts | Creating PDFs | Using PDFs on Laptops | Close Reading on Windows 10 | Class Notebook with OneNote | Close Reading on an iPad | Close Read with Any Device | Let's Practice Actively Learn
Class Notebook with OneNote
Quickly insert text using the INSERT tools in OneNote and distribute to students without a trip to the copy machine. Now all of your students can close read the text with the ability to highlight, take notes, record audio, and even more all the while you, the teacher, can keep an eye on progress using Class Notebook REVIEW STUDENT WORK tools.
Close Reading on an iPad
PaperPort Notes:App for the iPad
Oak Ridge, the secret city
PaperPort Notes is an example digital note taking tool for the iPad that is transforming the way people create and share information. Now you can combine documents, web content, audio, typed text as well as hand written notes into a single document that you can easily organize and share with anyone.
Educreations:
Educreations is an app for the iPad. As a tool, it has the ability to take photos or use screenshots/photos saved to the Photos app. To take a screenshot of text on the internet, press both the Home button and the Lock button at the same time. Use the pen tool to circle or underline the text. Use the text box tool to add annotations.
| Resources for Texts | Creating PDFs | Using PDFs on Laptops | Close Reading on Windows 10 | Class Notebook with OneNote | Close Reading on an iPad | Close Read with Any Device | Let's Practice Actively Learn
Close Read with Any Device
Google Docs, the document editor in Google Drive, allows for editing and sharing of files other than simple PDFs. Google Docs works on nearly any device that can access the internet. Upload or make the text document. Highlight the text. Insert Comments. Share your document with others to work collaboratively.
http://www.activelylearn.com
Short on Paper? No problem, use a tool like this to share texts with students on any device digitally.
Teachers can:
Videos can be viewed by using the CMCSS-Wifi or Staff-WiFi
Let's Practice Actively Learn
Participants will need to sign in as students:Use the Actively Learn generic students accounts.
Below is the message the teacher would use to send to students or for sharing the code to the class.
Creating Assignments
Creating An Assignment Using The Catalog
The Catalog is full of pre-made texts teachers can use to assign to students. The texts can be sorted by grade level and category. Teachers can also request a text to be placed in the catalog using the request text feature.
The catalog also allows teachers to use pre made layers on texts. This means the text is already layered with questions or notes. If teachers would rather create their own questions or notes they may choose the text without layers, and they will simply be provided with a text to engage students.
If teachers select a piece of text from the Catalog there are a few additional adjustments that can be made such as the font size, background or theme color, and paragraph numbering.
Managing Your Classes
Videos and be viewed by using the CMCSS-Wifi or Staff-WiFi
Student Progress
(Allow time to search the catalog, find or import an article and begin adding questions. Divide into groups {ex. K-2; 3-5, 6-8; 9-12 or subject} to discuss how they would use Actively Learn in their classroom. Then share those ideas with the whole group.)
| Resources for Texts | Creating PDFs | Using PDFs on Laptops | Close Reading on Windows 10 | Class Notebook with OneNote | Close Reading on an iPad | Close Read with Any Device | Let's Practice Actively Learn
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Overview of Blended Learning - Khan Academy video tutorials featuring content from the Christensen Institute
Common Sense Media **Introduction to the SAMR Model**
SOS Strategies - For a great list of classroom strategies shared by Discovery Education, visit http://tinyurl.com/SOS-strategies.
For a list of recommended tools by subject or standard, educator reviews, and additional information, visit https://www.graphite.org.
Common Sense **K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum** Scope and Sequence
A comprehensive curriculum designed to empower students to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly in our digital world.